I just couldn’t take it anymore.
I switched the background of Kimandjason.com several weeks ago from a “lunch bag brown” kraft color to a vibrant red. I did this because in a recent poll we conducted involving new visitors to the web site, many of them mentioned that the background was too drab. Eventually, the comments got to me and I made the change to red.
I picked red because it matched our logo, and because I know red to be the most vibrant and attention-grabbing color (that’s why stop signs and brake lights and Target uniforms are red). I was not about to have anyone call my web site drab.
Several weeks of staring at the bright red background drove me to the brink. I hated it. Even though we conducted another survey that showed a large margin of people actually preferring the red, I just couldn’t stand looking at it anymore. I found it too distracting, and it seemed to clash with a lot of the artwork. And that led me to remember the reason I chose the original color in the first place: I wanted something neutral, something that would allow the artwork itself to stand out.
After many days of agonizing whether or not to change it back (and getting increasingly more angry that something so stupid as a website background should dominate my thoughts) I brought back the old “lunch bag brown”. I added some Kim & Jason sketches to liven it up.
I don’t know if the sketches make it less drab, but at least I’m more happy.
I love the new background Jason. Your cartoons are gorgeous. I especially love the Pilot series, in particular the one where they are behind a jet plane in their cardboard box and calling the pilot a jerk for going so slow. My kids are exactly like this.
When my youngest son discovered movie kisses and planted one on me he asked “Did that blow your socks off mum”. But the real killer was he actually looked to see if I still had my socks on. He was only 4. Too cute!